Need to know biopsychology Flashcards
(91 cards)
Neurotransmitters
- Any chemical that diffuses across neural synapse that binds to receptors on postsynaptic neuron
- causes changes in cells composition or behaviour
- chemical substances play important part in workings of nervous system by transmitting nerve impulses across a synapse
Cerebral cortex
- brains outer layer of grey matter
- made up of four main lobes
Four main lobes comprising the cerebral cortex
- Occipital lobe
- Parietal lobe
- Frontal lobe
- Temporal lobe
Frontal lobe functions
- reasoning
- Planning
- Parts of speech
- Movement
- Problem solving
- decision making
- Reading fluency
Parietal lobe functions
- Movement
- Orientation
- Recognition
- Perception of stimuli
Temporal lobe 3 functions
- Verbal Memory
- Speech
- Decoding/discriminating sounds
Occipital lobe function
-Visual processing
Motor area-
- located in frontal lobe
- responsible for voluntary movements by sending signals to muscles in body
- motor area on one side of brain controls muscles on opposite side.
Brocas area-
- Responsible for speech production
- found in left frontal lobe
Auditory area-
- located in temporal lobe
- responsible for analysing & processing acoustic info
- auditory area contains different parts
- primary auditory area involved in processing simple features of sound including loudness, tempo & pitch
- Info from left ear goes primarily to right hemisphere
- info from right ear goes primarily to left hemisphere
Visual area
- back of brain in occipital lobe is visual area
- receives/ processes visual info
- visual area contains different parts that process different types of info including colour shape/movement
- Info from right hand side visual field is processed in left hemisphere
- info from left hand side visual field is processed in right hemisphere
Somatosensory area
- Somatosensory area located in parietal lobe
- receives incoming sensory info from skin to produce sensations related to pressure pain temperature etc.
- Different parts of Somatosensory area receive messages from different locations of body
- somatosensory area on one side of brain receives sensory info from opposite side of body
Wernickes area -
- responsible for language comprehension
- found in left temporal lobe
Brain lateralisation
-Where a skill or function is preferably controlled by one side of brain over other causing hemispheres to have specialised functions
Norepinephrine function
- involved in flight or fight response activation of sympathetic nervous system
- acts to increase heart rate,blood pressure, trigger release of glucose & increase blood flow to skeletal muscles.
- both neurotransmitter,hormone aka as noradrenaline
Epinephrine function
- involved in flight or fight response activation of sympathetic nervous system
- works to regulate heart rate, blood pressure , air passage diameters & metabolic shifts
- both a neurotransmitter & hormone & is aka adrenaline
GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid) function
- regulates neuronal excitability, relieves anxiety/induces relaxation
- directly involved in regulation of muscle tone
- it’s most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system
Glycine
- acts as inhibitory neurotransmitter, most commonly in spinal cord, brain stem & retina
- when acting as a co-agonist with glutamate, glycine is an excitatory neurotransmitter
Beta endorphin function
- activates opioid receptors resulting in significant pain relief & relaxation particularly after physical trauma
- opioid drugs like morphine bind to opioid receptors & produce similar effects to beta-endorphin
Psychoactive drugs
- chemicals that cross blood brain barrier & alter brain chemistry & functioning
- these drugs lead to changes in perception, cognition, volition, mood or behaviour
Functions associated with medulla
- breathing
- heart rate
- blood pressure
Functions associated with pons
- bladder control
- eye movements
- facial expressions
- hearing
- posture
- respiration
- sleep
- swallowing
- taste
Glutamate function
- plays key role in growth and development of neurons
- highly involved in cognitive functions like learning and memory
- glutamate is most abundant excitatory neurotransmitter in vertebrate nervous system
Vasopressin function
- deals with neurological function like social bonding & memory
- commonly functions as a hormone where job is increase water retention in kidneys